ZENPORT Releases “SmartGrid” Input Assistance Feature for Global Supply Chain Operations ~ Serving as the “Management Foundation” for Generative AI Implementation ~
Zenport Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Fumiyuki Ota) is releasing “SmartGrid,” a bulk data entry assistance feature, as a new function of “ZENPORT,” the data hub that manages all global supply chain data in one place.
This feature has been developed through individual projects with multiple leading distribution and manufacturing companies representing the industry, with the initial version scheduled for release in March 2025.
About ZENPORT: Toward a World Where Cognitive Diversity Creates Richness and Innovation
ZENPORT aims to realize a world where data, people, and economies across the globe are seamlessly connected, and where richness and innovation are sustained through the utilization of cognitive diversity.
Under this philosophy, with the proprietary integrated architecture “ZenConnect” at its core, ZENPORT organically links data from all processes and organizations. Furthermore, through the standard data integration platform “ZenSync” and the personalized business experience UI (screen function) “ZenGrid,” it builds an ecosystem where all stakeholders can make optimal decisions based on cross-organizational data.
Increasing Challenges of Excel Ledgers in PSI (Production-Sales-Inventory) Management
As global supply chains become increasingly complex, the importance of data integration across organizations and borders is rapidly growing. However, in global supply chain operations, numerous Excel ledgers are being used, creating operational burdens and management bottlenecks.
Particularly in PSI (Production-Sales-Inventory) management, manual data transcription into Excel ledgers plays a crucial role. These Excel ledgers constitute a critical part of PSI management, where data spanning processes such as ordering, production, shipping, and transportation is collected from various stakeholders to manage delivery schedules and transportation for each product.
This transcription work, which forms the core of PSI management, remains one of the most labor-intensive tasks in global supply chain management, despite requiring high accuracy under time constraints. Currently, awareness of these challenges has been growing across industries among many leading companies, especially following the rapid changes in the global supply chain environment since the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the scale of our support projects grows, we are developing this feature as part of building an infrastructure to contribute to our customers’ further business growth and to automate large-scale data integration through the utilization of generative AI.
Achieving Efficiency Beyond Excel Through Data Utilization
“SmartGrid” is a bulk data entry screen that operates on “ZenGrid,” the UI of ZENPORT.
By utilizing data connected to ZENPORT, it supports the transcription of shipping document data, such as INVOICE information, into “ZenGrid,” achieving efficiency that surpasses Excel when registering multiple shipping information entries.
“Management Foundation” in Generative AI Implementation
ZENPORT will implement generative AI solutions based on the concept of “Human in the loop” (a mechanism where humans perform final verification of AI judgments).
SmartGrid functions as a management foundation where humans act as “gatekeepers” to verify and make decisions, connecting external data with core systems during the automation of “normalizing unstructured data” such as PDFs.
The current phase targets manually entered data, but the next phase will also display data read by AI-OCR. It will evolve as a UI (screen function) for customer data verification and finalization, and as a hub connecting to various internal and external data sources and workflows.
Current Release: Semi-automation of INVOICE transcription using SmartGrid Next Phase: AI-OCR integration with SmartGrid (planned for around May-July 2025) Beyond Next Phase: Automation of preceding and subsequent processes (details to be announced later)
Providing Standard Functions with Customized Support
While SmartGrid is part of ZENPORT’s standard functions, it accommodates diverse use cases through the development and enhancement of standard functions tailored to individual customer use cases.
- Development costs will be quoted individually
Company Overview
Company Name: ZENPORT Inc.
Location: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Representative: CEO Fumiyuki Ota
Vision: “Embrace differences to make a difference”
Mission: “Be the common language for the global supply chain”
